Spanish Inspired Pizza, Gluten Free

Yes, we finally have a pizza crust that works. We’ve made pizza once a week ever since finding out, and my husband for one has been ecstatic about the whole idea. He’s so good, because I always buy and bring home these crazy combinations of food, and he puts so much trust in me that the end result will be not just edible, but actually tasty. This particular combination was not really much of a stretch, but I haven’t seen too many pizzas using all these ingredients together – chorizo, a parsley pesto sauce, tomatoes, olives, and instead of mozzarella, manchego cheese. If ever there was a Spanish word for the Italian saltimbocca (translates to “jump in the mouth”), I think this pizza would fit the bill. Bright, vibrant, fresh, and rich are all words that instantly came to mind when I first bit into this creation.

And the crust? Oh it was perfect. I don’t mean to brag (OK, maybe I do) but I mean, absolutely PERFECT. It’s not for Chicago deep-dish styles, but as a thin crust it’s spot-on. Crispy on the bottom yet still soft in the middle, lots of great flavor from the amaranth flour, and it held together enough to even be able to go all “American style” and eat each slice with your hands! I have tried to curb this habit of eating everything with my hands that is possible to be handheld – apparently in the land where people use civilized utensils for everything it makes you look a bit umm… barbarian. But for this pizza? Well we weren’t out in public, so no one but each other saw the flavorful juices dripping down our faces as we voraciously tore into a food that was a such a treat for us both – for my husband because gluten free pizza is a rare thing indeed, and for me because well I don’t go getting pizzas all for myself when my husband can’t eat any. No need to completely torture the poor man…

This crust was an adaption of my adaption of my adaption of a gluten free pita bread recipe. I’m trying to decide if that’s enough adaptions. Can this be my gluten free pizza crust recipe yet?

I altered the starch to flour ratio, changed some of dry ingredients used and their proportions

Changed fat from butter to olive oil

Changed the binding agents – no xanthan gum, only 1 egg

Added in a 2nd rising time

No extra sugar in the dough

Lowered the baking temp significantly

It’s prepared as pizza dough, not pita bread.

What do you think? Are these enough changes? When can you claim a recipe as yours? The general rule of thumb is 3 major changes. I find this a rather difficult determination when it comes to GF baking, there are so many ingredients with such varying chemistry – it’s hard to know which change is major vs. minor. I’m curious as to your opinion, and as you can see I referenced all my previous adaptions and the original just in case!

Directions:
1. Start working on the pizza dough. Dissolve sugar in 1/2 c. warm water, and add yeast. Cover and set aside until foamy and doubled in size.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the rest of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. In a small bowl, beat an egg with a fork until homogenized
4. Once yeast has activated, add the yeast and egg to the dry ingredients, pour in 1sp. olive oil, and mix thoroughly (I just used my hands). If necessary, add in a little more warm water. It will be a sticky mess.
5. Let dough proof for an hour, covered with a damp towel in a warm area.
6. Once proofed, liberally rub olive oil onto your pizza surface and using well oiled hands, shape and spread out pizza dough onto surface til about 1/4″ thick. I have not tried this on a stone yet, but used a black jelly roll pan that worked great. Let rise about 30 more minutes in a warm place.
7. While rising, make the parsley pesto. Add parsley, lemon, pine nuts and garlic to a food processor and pulse til homogenized. Then gradually add in olive oil until the consistency is “spreadable”. At this point also preheat your oven to about 425F.
8. Use a spatula to spread the pesto evenly over the entire pizza, all the way out to the edge of the crust. Add on the rest of the toppings and finally the cheese. Bake for about 20-25 min, depending on how much toppings you ended up putting on and how thick your crust ended up being. Pizza is done when bottom of the crust browns. If cheese is not browned yet, at this point turn on the broiler for about a minute or so until the cheese starts to brown. Take out of the oven, serve and enjoy!

Oh, MAN that looks good.
I have some chorizo wallowing in the fridge, so I think I’ll try this recipe.
I agree with you that it’s confusing–when you can call a recipe yours, and when are you ripping of the author? I think it kind of depends on the recipe, but that’s not very helpful, is it?
As for eating with your hands–I agree with you that things taste better when eaten with your hands. As far as pizza goes, I think it’s kind of strange when people eat it with utensils. My favorite thing to eat with my hands, though, is cake. That’s why the cupcake craze is pretty cool.

Fantastic looking pizza!! Wow, I must make this Our family loves pizza and I have really enjoyed having the kids in the kitchen with me and helping to make our own crust and everything else. We like experimenting with toppings and we have found too that Kamut Khorasan Wheat is really good. You can use the flour in the dough of course, not as a topping lol! It is not gluten free but there are actually people with gluten intolerance that can eat it since it is an ancient wheat! I just thought I would mention. Anyway – yummy!

Hmm interesting – while I appreciate you leaving your comment, I’m not sure I understand your logic of why being ancient would cause gluten to react differently – from what I know about khorasan it is only a relative of wheat and *may* be suitable to *some* with a wheat allergy. A gluten allergy or celiac disease is different from a wheat allergy however. Even the company you are speaking of says right on their site that those with celiac should not eat this grain. My husband does not want to needlessly risk having a reaction just to try it out.

Hi Jenn, this looks great! I have been on the hunt for that perfect gluten-free pizza crust… I can’t wait to give this a try. I do have a quick question, though. I’m not too familiar with the size(s) of jelly roll pans. Would a large cookie sheet be a good substitution? Or maybe a 9×13 dish (not really intended for pizza… I’m just trying to figure out what size pan would be appropriate for the amount of pizza dough). If you have a minute, I’d appreciate your advice. Thanks!!

Thanks! I’d say 9 x 13 is a good approximation…ha sorry I can’t be more specific given that my toaster oven is probably made in metric units! The main thing is to spread out the dough to about 1/4″ thick, and I found it easiest to do if I could contain it in a pan. Good luck, I hope you like it!!

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